1998 News Releases

PA OKLAHOMA COMPANIES AND EXECUTIVES INDICTED FOR VIOLATIONS OF CWA AND RCRA

Release Date: 11/13/98Contact Information:

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1998

OKLAHOMA COMPANIES AND EXECUTIVES INDICTED FOR VIOLATIONS OF CWA AND RCRA

Koteswara Attaluri, president, treasurer and sole shareholder of Allied Environmental Services Inc., of Overland, Kan., and one of Allied’s managers Gary Bicknell, and Mac DeWayne Overholt, president of Overholt Trucking in Terrelton, Okla., were indicted on Nov. 5, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma in Tulsa on charges of conspiracy and for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. In addition, some of the defendants were also indicted on charges of mail fraud, false statements and aiding and abetting. The charges arise from the alleged illegal disposal of over 310,000 gallons of petroleum-impacted wastewaters into injection wells in Cushing, Beggs and Lincoln Counties in Oklahoma in 1994 and 1995. In addition, the defendants also allegedly caused the illegal release of 6,200 gallons of petroleum-impacted wastewater into a stream that flowed into Keystone Lake. The charges state that the petroleum-impacted wastewaters, in which some allegedly contained human fecal material, dead birds and chlorinated solvents, were found and collected by Allied when they removed underground storage tanks from U.S. military facilities in Kansas and Missouri. Under Allied’s contract with the government, the wastewater was supposed to be treated at its tank farm in Bonner Springs, Kan., and properly disposed of. Instead, the wastewater was allegedly either injected into wells, dumped into a stream or disposed of at an abandoned tank farm in Drumwright, Okla. Such disposal methods can threaten ground and surface waters used to supply drinking water. If convicted, Allied faces a fine of up to $1.1 million; the individual defendants each face up to five years in prison on each of the charges, except for the Clean Water Act violations, which carry a maximum prison term of three years. The individual defendants also face fines ranging from $350,000 to $1.15 million. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center, the U.S. Defense Criminal Investigative Services and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.